Sony Gamescom Wrap-Up

Like E3 earlier this year, Sony streamed its Gamescom press conference live in Playstation Home.

UPDATE: Ubisoft also confirms Michael Jackson: The Experience, and new games in the Rayman and Lumines franchises for PS Vita.

The Playstation brand was out in full force at Gamescom today, doling out a ton of information, most of it expected in some form. To help you wade through all the announcements, we’ve compiled all the good stuff into a single news story. Convenience ho!

Biggest news first, the Playstation 3 has seen a price cut across all SKUs. The 160gb model has been reduced from $299 to $249, the 320gb model seeing a similar reduction down to $299 from $349. The price drop takes effect immediately in the NTSC and PAL regions, with Japan coming later this week on August 18th. A new North American content bundle was announced, with a 320gb model going to retail with a copy of Infamous 2 and a free 30 days of Playstation Plus for $299. Like the price cut before it, Eurogamer reports that the announcement was leaked prior to its official reveal by Sony (this time by Amazon UK).

For those in Europe that are still in the mood to grab their first PSP, Sony introduced a region-exclusive model that axes the Wi-Fi and sells for a (comparatively) cheap £99 ($143). Sony cited the success of the “PSP Essentials” line of budget-priced games in Europe as the motivating factor for the release.

Also in Infamous 2 news, a vampire-themed DLC package was announced for the super-hero Sandbox-er. Dubbed the “Festival of Blood”, the download has titular superhuman Cole McGrath bitten by a vampire, and given one night to kill the head bloodsucker to restore his humanity. The content pack is set to launch this October, just in time for Halloween.

In terms of the Playstation Move, two new major titles were confirmed to support the device. The Wii Fit meets Eyetoy party game Move Fitnesswill expand the peripheral’s fitness offerings, and the latest in European megaselling sports franchise – FIFA 13 – will also be Move compatible.

The meat of the press conference news went to the Playstation Vita – however – with a multitude of new titles announced for the platform, both games and applications. Social media networks Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, and Skype have been confirmed for the device, the latter being especially interesting now that it is owned by Microsoft. First-party applications include Near, a location-based readout of your gameplay and the gameplay of those in your area, and the cross game/app party chat feature simply known as Party (something still not available on PS3). Cross-platform Trophy updates and the social network portal LiveArea were also confirmed, as was the decision to release all Vita games both in physical and digital forms. The best news for those worried the device was going to have its RAM cut to save costs, came in a press statement from Sony showing the specs of the Vita staying firm at the previously announced 512mb.

Game-wise, four new titles were revealed at Gamescom, starting with Resistance: Burning Skies. The spin-off supposedly makes use of the handheld’s dual analog sticks, and features a story written by Resistance novel writer William C. Dietz. Escape Plan tasks players to use the touch-screen to guide “Lil” and “Laarg” through trap-filled dungeons. A new Assassin’s Creed was announced by Ubisoft, and EA Sports revealed that it is bringing FIFA to the handheld sometime in the future as well. Already confirmed games like Reality Fighters and the Vita version of LittleBigPlanet were given new gameplay demonstrations. Ubisoft has come out as a major supporter for the device, with six games currently in development, Dungeon Hunter: Alliance and Asphalt being playable on the show floor. Also mentioned but not detailed in Sony’s conference were unnamed entries in the Bioshock and Call of Duty franchises, as well as Dust 514.

About the author

Elder Geek installed GavinGreene.exe into its News editorial directory in May of 2009. The resulting mobile humanoid server has developed frighteningly realistic obsessions with RPGs, Adventure Games, and Industry Politics, and may be the harbinger of the inevitable singularity. Follow him on Twitter @ElderGeekGav

I’m impressed by the sheer quantity of titles announced for the Vita, but most of them are still pretty minor to me. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more Japanese supporters of the Vita, but I guess we’ll see that at TGS…

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